Now TV: Everything you need to know

Sky’s Now TV has launched, offering on-demand movies while allowing you to dodge the Sky subscription needed for Sky Go. There is a lot to like about the new service, but at £3.49 per rental, or £15 a month, is it really worth it?

We have had a long time to play with Now TV and have picked apart every feature we can find to help you come to that decision. So here's everything you need to know about Now TV.

Where can I get it?

Head over to the Now TV website to get yourself signed up. From there click in the top right-corner of the screen in the box marked “30-day free trial” to grab yourself, yup you guessed it, a 30-day free trial.

A few details later and you should be pretty much savvy on the desktop front. The service is compatible with both Mac and PC, by the way, so don’t worry about which operating system you are using.

If you would rather go mobile, Android is the only thing that Now TV runs on at the moment. iOS is on its way as is an Xbox, PS3 and Roku version of the player. Just like Sky Go, Now TV will let you register up to two devices at once. You can only view a pay and play movie on a one device at a time, however.

How much is it?

Now TV comes in two different flavours. One, a Netflix-style, one-stop-shop affair that grants you unlimited movie viewing, is £15 per month. The other is a sort of pick-and-mix approach, costing from 99p to £3.49 per movie rental.

Once you have picked a film, then clicked on the pay-and-play symbol, it should start playing. Be careful though, because if you have setup a card you will pay for a movie straight away - a bit like one-click purchasing on Amazon. You can enable something called the pay pin in settings which will prevent this.

Once you have picked a film, then clicked on the pay-and-play symbol, it should start playing. Be careful though, because if you have setup a card you will pay for a movie straight away - a bit like one-click purchasing on Amazon. You can enable something called the pay pin in settings which will prevent this.

What sort of content is there?

Now TV is different from a conventional Sky subscription. Unlike Sky Go, this service is for everyone and as we have seen earlier, can either be picked at or subscribed to.

This is where the differences end, as in terms of content most of what is on Sky Go is also present in Now TV. Right now everything is restricted to Sky Movies, but there are plans to add sports as well as programmes from channels such as Sky Atlantic and Living.

In terms of keeping content fresh, Now TV is promising to add five new movies every Friday and crucially, to do it a whole year before any other subscription service. It has also said there will be three-quarters of all top 100 movies in the UK on offer. A lot of content then.

Here’s the complex part: what you actually get for your money. Think of the £15 like a pass to gain access to Sky Movies. You can see the same films a Sky Movies subscriber and on top of that you can rent movies yet to come to Sky TV but are around the DVD release timescale. Or you can do without a subscription and rent any movie you would like. Complicated, we know.

Should I get it?

The best approach we can think of is to use Sky Now like a movie rental store. There is some great content there and having it built into your Xbox or iPhone once it launches, gives you yet another way to watch more movies on your device.

Sky has said it wants Now TV to be on as many platforms as possible and we can see it offering a major movie complement to the likes of YouView. Right now YouView is missing things such a sports and new movies, so Now TV could fill that gap. For £15 Now TV isn’t cheap, but rentals priced from 99p to £3.49 are pretty good value. If you want an all-you-can-eat approach, then Netflix and Lovefilm seem a better bet, but they are nowhere near when if comes to offering the latest movies. Content is king here. But if picking and choosing is your thing, then Now TV is a great service.

The baby of the Lint team, Hunter has been a tech fan since he bought his first MiniDisc..and what a waste of money that was. He began writing about electronics at the age of 16 and hasn't stopped since. Nowadays he fulfils his mobile phone and gaming obsession whilst attempting to distract people from his bizarre name. Regular meetings with the Gladiators crew see Hunter often returning to work battered and bruised. Considers himself a music obsessive, was once the most highly decorated scout in the country. Fan of trousers.